This old car doesn't owe me anything
I hope you all don't mind a rambling off topic thread. It seems a lot of folks enjoy talking about cars from time to time so I figured I'd post about my old car. I just got back from taking a quick trip out of state for a work emergency, and was thinking about it as I was driving home.
It a cheap GM car, a little Saturn sedan that my wife bought brand new 20 years ago, shortly before we met. It still has a couple tiny blue specks left in places of some "washable" paint they decorated it with after our wedding, and there's a little piece of baling wire still near the exhaust pipe that my dad put there to tie the string of tin cans to as we were leaving the church for our honeymoon.
It now has right at a quarter-million miles on it, nearly every one driven by my wife or myself. It's carried us on several cross-country vacations, countless smaller trips, and a lot of memorable drives such as bringing newborns home from the hospital.
It's been incredibly reliable. I've replaced a starter and motor mount (cheap- did it myself) and a couple other small, inexpensive things like sensors over the years. The only costs have been gas, several sets of tires, several batteries, and always, always consistent oil and transmission fluid changes. It burns/leaks maybe 1/2qt of oil every thousand miles, not bad considering. It still gets 38mpg highway miles, just checked it today. It's the bare-bones model with manual windows and locks (remember those?) A person just couldn't ask for more reliable, inexpensive transportation that that.
It's on it's last legs and getting pretty much worn out. It still purrs down the road but it's showing it's age. My oldest will be old enough to start driving this year; she'll probably learn to drive in it.
For such a cheap little car it has served us very well. I know it can't last forever but I told my wife when I got home that if the engine or transmission disintegrates on the way to church tomorrow morning, this old car doesn't owe us a dime. I know it's silly to feel attachment to an old junker, but when it finally stops running and heads off to the scrap yard it will be a sad day.
Anyhow, just some musings I had today. Thanks for listening! :)